Some financial advice for expats

A surprising number of expats fail to streamline their banking and financial practices once they have taken up residence in their country of choice. International banking makes it possible to hold an account in a country and access your funds from anywhere using either a debit card or ATM. Although this makes life very simple, it comes with a cost, often international transactions will carry an additional fee for handling and administration, and whilst these costs are relatively small at transaction level, they can mount up to a significant figure over time.

ATM charges are particularly hefty when using your card in an overseas ATM; some banks are keener than others in their price structure, whilst some may charge as much as $2.00 per transaction regardless of the quantity of cash that is withdrawn via the ATM.

Many banks will also charge an additional fee for forwarding mail to an overseas address, meaning your bank statements and other documents will cost more. Almost every bank offers internet banking these days, reduce your costs by switching to on-line statements only.

Possibly the best way of reducing your banking costs is to open a bank account in your country of residence, and transfer money from your home country directly into this account electronically, then use this account to fund your stay in whichever country you have chosen to reside in.

Language learning made easy

For an awful lot of expats, the idea of learning to speak the native tongue of their new home country can be an extremely daunting proposition. Many see learning a new language as a huge task which is best approached in an academic fashion. Whilst schooling is an excellent way of learning a language properly, if you only require the ability to converse fairly easily with the locals, you can stop worrying right now, it is not as tough as it seems.

Very few people realise that in order to be able to speak a language fairly proficiently, you only need to learn around 3,000 words. With 3,000 words under your belt you will understand 90% of the most commonly spoken words and phrases, meaning that during a conversation, you will understand nine out of every ten words, making it highly likely that you can guess at the general meaning of the word you do not understand. Learning 3,000 words does not seem such a daunting task, even at ten new words a day, it means you would be speaking fairly fluently within a year, certainly well enough to live your new life without resorting to hand signals!

Crowded Britain?

Here's an interesting article on the BBC's Mark Easton's blog discussing the idea that Britain has become too crowded due to immigration:

Is Britain too crowded? The MPs and peers who put their names to today's report calling for a cap on immigration must believe so.

This week's Map of the Week is intended to provide a bit of evidence to go with the debate. In fact, I am posting four maps which look at population density and a measure of what might be described as "crowdedness".

The Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration sounds moderate and consensual, but what it is arguing for is extremely radical. They want government to introduce policies which would limit Britain's population to around 65 million. Current government estimates suggest immigration will push numbers to around 79 million by 2050.

Read the rest of this article here

Over 1,000,000 pages served last month!

Unaccustomed as we are to blowing our own horn we just couldn't resist mentioning that Expat Focus served over a million pages last month to our visitors, the first time we've ever hit the seven figure mark!

OK, that's enough self congratulation - time to get back to work...

Should expats living in Thailand begin to worry?

Thailand has had a long history of political instability, much of which is hidden from the western world by a veil of censorship. It was only two years ago that a military coup, thankfully bloodless, took place to dispose criticised Prime Minister and business man Taksin Shiniwatra, following allegations of mass corruption. Two years on, following the first democratic election since the 2006 coup, and amidst allegations of vote buying and further corruption, Thailand once again witnesses a violent response to its current political situation.

Demonstrators for the People’s Alliance for Democracy have been blockading airports and government buildings since early this week, several trade unions have gone on strike to support them, seeing the entire rail network grind to a halt. PAD is calling for Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who many see as a puppet for the aforementioned Taksin, to step down from office.

The army so far has refused to step in and quell the troubles, after avowing they would never become involved in politics again, however it can only be a matter of time before they are forced to act regardless of their wishes, as the streets begin to erupt into violence and the economy suffers.

For expats living in Thailand this is a troubling time, it seems the country is becoming increasingly unstable, and potentially dangerous. This is a major problem due to the high number of expats who have a family in Thailand - no simple relocation for them...

So you want to be an expat?

Almost everyone at some stage in their life considers moving to a different country, although very few people actually commit themselves to this brave move. If you are considering becoming one of the growing expat community, then ask yourself these three questions below, before taking things further.

• Are you self sufficient? Not only financially, but emotionally as well, it can be very difficult to move away from the support of friends and family. It is important that you have the ability to support yourself in every way.

• Are you confident? It can be very difficult to learn to live in a different culture, especially if you do not speak the local language and your native tongue is not spoken widely by the locals, many people underestimate the stress involved with living a day to day life where nothing is ever easy or straightforward.

• Can you persevere? Many expats will tell you that the first few months are the hardest, learning enough of the language to get by, getting to grips with the local culture, and dealing with the short term problems of accommodation and amenities, you will need to stick with it for quite some time before things get easier.

Life as an expat can be exciting and full, but it does not suit everyone, think long and hard before you make any commitments, many expats fail to assimilate into their new home and return to their nation of birth within a few months of leaving.

Don't bank on it

by guest blogger Mac

Currently I am living in Thailand, and have been using the ATM to take funds out of my UK bank account for over two years. A couple of months ago, a friend of mine was coming out to visit me and offered to bring a pile of mail that was sitting in the UK waiting for me to read it. When he arrived, I noticed a few banks statements mixed in with the credit card offers and other junk mail. I don't usually check my statements very closely, I just don't keep very close track of my spending, but on this occasion I decided to look over them. I was shocked to find just how much I was being charged every time I used the ATM, I was also surprised at the terrible exchange rate I was getting. The next morning, I took my passport and rental agreement to a local bank and opened a Thai bank account, it worked out far cheaper for me to transfer a lump sum into a local account and use a local ATM card than it was to keep using my foreign card. If you are a frequent ATM user in a country that is different to the one your bank account is in, check the charges, you may also find you are paying over the top.